Science Assessments

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Next Generation Science Assessment – Developing NGSS-aligned assessments and curricula for the next generation of K-12 students. How can assessments be designed to engage students in the range of science and engineering practices? : StemTeachingTools. Classroom Sample Tasks. The Classroom Sample Tasks blend content, practices, and concepts from both the NGSS and the Common Core State Standards.

Teachers across the disciplines have collaborated to write sample tasks, which are the result of a vision of integrating science, engineering, and mathematics for classroom use. Currently, nine draft middle and high school tasks are available below. Additional tasks, including those for elementary grade levels, will be added as they become available.
Science Assessment. Science 2 / Summative Assessment 9-12.

DBIR ⇢ Talks and Papers ⇢ NSTA 2016 Workshop "How to Assess Three-Dimensional Learning in Your Classroom: Building Tasks that Work"
Below are materials from the workshop, "How to Assess Three-Dimensional Learning in Your Classroom: Building Tasks that Work" held at the National Science Teachers Association meeting in Nashville on April 2, 2016.

How is assessing three-dimensional science learning different than we how we have thought of science learning in the past? How can we design assessment tasks that elicit the core ideas, practices, and crosscutting concepts in the NGSS performance expectations (PEs)? There are very few examples of elementary and middle school assessments completely aligned to NGSS, so people will need to adapt the ones that exist. Performance expectations also under specify the nature of evidence needed to draw inferences about student learning. William R.
DBIR ⇢ Talks and Papers ⇢ NSTA 2016 Workshop "How to Assess Three-Dimensional Learning in Your Classroom: Building Tasks that Work"

Contingent Pedagogies. DBIR ⇢ Talks and Papers ⇢ NSTA 2015 PDI Developing Next Generation Science Assessments. This bundle includes materials from the Professional Development Institute held at the National Science Teachers Association meeting in Chicago on March 11, 2015.

The prior generation of science standards treated content and inquiry as fairly separate strands of science learning, but the new standards aim to involve learners in using science and engineering practices to develop and apply their understanding. This tight coupling of content and practice represents a different way of thinking about science learning and practitioners will need effective strategies for assessing the NGSS performance expectations.

In this session, participants will be introduced to a design process for creating summative and formative assessments aligned to NGSS. Participants will learn how to interpret the NGSS performance expectations (PEs) with a focus on using PEs to design classroom-based assessments. William R.
DBIR ⇢ Talks and Papers ⇢ NSTA 2016 Workshop "How to Assess Three-Dimensional Learning in Your Classroom: Building Tasks that Work"
SHORT COURSE: How to Develop 3D Formative Assessments for the Science Classroom : StemTeachingTools. SHORT COURSE: How to Develop 3D Formative Assessments for the Science Classroom Posted on April 05, 2016 This short course will help you learn how to develop and use 3D formative assessments for use in the classroom.

Background Formative assessment in the classroom is crucial because everyone engaged in complex learning benefits from timely and focused feedback from more expert others. The process also promotes important processes of self-explanation, reflection, and learning.
Student Generated Models as a Pre-Assessment. With my Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) goggles on this year, I decided to start my unit on Atomic Theory and Structure in my Chemistry classes by having the students build their own model of what they think an atom looks like.

They worked in groups of two, and I just had a cart sitting out loaded up with various extraneous materials that I had available (cotton balls, aluminum foil, steel wool, straws, wire, tape, scissors, construction paper, balloons, fishing line, etc.). In addition to building the model, they had to write in their science notebooks “My model represents an atom because……” After students had finalized their models, each pair of students then presented their model to the class,explaining why/how their model represented an atom.

This was just a sharing, no judging or talking about who did best. Some students wanted to know if they were right, but I wouldn’t say anything, just that we would be exploring atomic models the next day. Here’s what I discovered: 1. 2.
Science Formative Assessment Tools and Resources. Here you will find a variety of tools and resources to use with the science formative assessment publications.

Check back periodically as new tools and resources are added. Correlation Guides for the Uncovering Student Ideas in Science Probes and the Next Generation Science Standards: The NGSS are based on the disciplinary core ideas from the Framework for K-12 Science Education. These correlation guides link the disciplinary core ideas from the Framework to the USI probes. These guides will be updated as new USI books are released. PICTORIAL CARD SORT RESOURCES- Card sorts are one of the Formative Assessment Classroom Techniques described in the "FACTs Book" that can be used as an alternative to the paper/pencil version of a justified list probe.
Assessment Tools. Below are links to assessment tools and techniques along with specific geoscience examples and resources.

Carol Ormand's toolbox, complete with rock hammer. Photo courtesy of Carol Ormand. Concept Maps - A diagramming technique for assessing how well students see the "big picture". ConcepTests - Conceptual multiple-choice questions that are useful in large classes.
Welcome to PALS. DC Science Assessment: An Assessment of the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS)
Last year, the Office of the State Superintendent of Education (OSSE) introduced the nation’s first statewide assessment of the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS). In 2013, the District of Columbia adopted the NGSS, which are based on the National Research Council’s Framework for K–12 Science Education, as its state learning standards.
The Center on Standards & Assessment Implementation. The SAIC produced the following guiding documentation that will be used by the 15 participating states—and are available publicly—to inform large-scale NGSS test and item development: An Assessment Framework that includes the overall test design, description of an aligned test item cluster as the foundational unit of an NGSS-aligned assessment, specifications for various types of test items, and accessibility principles;Item Specifications Guidelines that detail a model of NGSS item cluster specifications, classify item types for consideration in an item cluster, identify key elements for each item cluster, and describe the linkage between item clusters and the NGSS;Two Item Cluster Prototypes (Grade 5 and High School) that can be used by the participating states to inform test item development.

The purpose of providing a “model” is to assist districts and schools with implementation of the Common Core State Standards and New Jersey Core Curriculum Content Standards by providing an example from which to work and/or a product for implementation. Each unit contains targeted student learning objectives (SLOs) that elucidate what students need to know and be able to do within the unit.

The six-week formative assessments included in the model curriculum help clarify the level of rigor expected from the standards and provide a set of assessment tools that are often difficult for districts and schools to create on their own. What is the model curriculum? The model curriculum (version 1.0) includes all standards of the grade-level content organized into five units of study, each with targeted SLOs, intended for six weeks of instruction each.

K12. Welcome to SERC's portal for K-12 Educators. We've scoured dozens of educational project websites hosted by SERC to find the activities and resources of highest interest to K-12 educators. On this site, there are hundreds of classroom activities organized by grade level and topic as well as guidance on effective teaching. Many of these resources were expressly developed with a K-12 audience in mind. Others can be adapted to K-12 classrooms even though they were originally developed with a college audience in mind.
PALS.